April 7, 2013
St. Charles Community College crowned 2013 Junior College National Champion!
St. Charles defeats Saddleback in 4 straight, but not without a fight
St. Charles Community College defeated Saddleback College with 4 straight wins in the best-of-seven series played at Irvine Inline in Irvine, CA on April 5-6, 2013, en route to their 4th consecutive and 11th overall National Championship.
All four games were broadcast on the NCRHA Ustream channel.
Friday night at 7:00pm, the two teams faced off in this best-of-seven series. St. Charles won game 1 of the series 6-0. Shots favored St. Charles 42-20. 6 different St.
Charles players had multi-point games. Player of the Game honors went to St. Charles' Adam
Leonard, who led the team with 2 goals, including the game-winner. On
the Saddleback side, goaltender Angel Rios stopped 36 of 42 shots. Click here for the box score.
Just 2 hours later, St. Charles won game 2 by a score of 6-1. St. Charles goaltender and Player of the
Game Joe Colmo stopped 29 of 30 shots, while Matt Stobart and Mike
Pavolka scored 2 goals a piece en route to their 2nd victory of the
night. Saddleback's goal was scored by Ryan Todd. Saddleback managed to outshoot St. Charles 30-29, but St. Charles had more quality chances, leading to the 6-1 final score. Click here for the box score.
On Saturday morning at 8:00am, St. Charles narrowly defeated Saddleback in
Game 3. St. Charles scored early, just 4:19 into the game. The rest of
the 1st, all of the 2nd, and all but 8 seconds of the 3rd were filled
with various penalties but no scoring. Saddleback pulled the goaltender
with 2:30 remaining in the game, and got the tying goal on the power
play with 8 seconds left in the game, on a goal from Ryan Todd. In overtime,
Saddleback rang one off the crossbar early, followed several minutes
later by a St. Charles penalty. Just 12 seconds into the power play,
St. Charles sprang David Hitchcock on a breakaway and he scored 5:38
into the OT. Hitchcock earned Player of the Game honors for netting the
game-winner. Click here for the box score.
Later Saturday morning, St. Charles narrowly defeated
Saddleback by a score of 7-6 in Game 4, for their 4th consecutive and 11th overall Junior College
title. The title-winning goal was scored by St. Charles' Hayden
Crocker with just 26 seconds remaining in the game. Saddleback led 5-3
entering the 3rd period but St. Charles battled back to tie the game at
5 with 5:47 remaining, and took the lead just 1 minute later.
Saddleback pulled the goaltender again with over 2 minutes to go, tying the game
with 1:17 remaining, before Crocker put it away for the title. Player of the Game honors go to Saddleback's Ryan Todd who scored 3 goals in the game, while St. Charles' Callahan and Crocker were the #2 and #3 stars, respectively. Click here for the box score.
Both teams put up a great effort, and while the games were very competitive, physical and intense, all had a great attitudeand respect for their opponent.
Word is that the team celebrated Saturday afternoon with the cup in Laguna Beach. Pictures to follow on the NCRHA Facebook page.